James Cameron Delays "Avatar" Sequels by a Year

James Cameron has been working on three new "Avatar" sequel, with plans of releasing "Avatar 2" in theaters on Christmas of 2016 and then release the next two installments each year after.

But now comes word from Cameron that he has pushed back production of all three films by an entire year, which means that "Avatar 2" won't hit theaters until Christmas of 2017.

The director wants to shoot the three movies simultaneously, but has been having trouble getting the scripts right. Plus, the goal has been to push technology forward on ambitious water scenes. It's not clear if Cameron feels the technology is currently advanced enough.

"We're not just going to do one and then make up another one and another one after that," he explained. "And parallel with that, we're doing all the design. So we've designed all the creatures and the environments."

Cameron continued: "We've had a couple of years to think through the story arc of the next three films, and every day that goes by, I believe in the stories I'm telling more and more. We're not coming out of the block fast to capitalize on the last film."

"Avatar" remains the highest-grossing film of all time with earnings of $2.8 billion.